Фотоальбом

A collection of Yamijima Folklore Compiled by the Yamijima Folklore Research Group. Published 1967.

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A creeping evil on the beach

An old woman on the island relates the tale of an impoverished couple who lived on the shores of Aonoku. One day, the pregnant wife wandered out to the beach to wait for her husband's return. Heedless of a warning handed down by generations of islanders in which a cursed child would be born of any pregnant woman who is touched by the sea, she stepped into the waters as she waited for her husband.

Hearing of her transgression, her husband was furious! The wife was advised by the certain member of the Ohta family that her newborn child should be dismembered, sealed in a barrel, and buried in hallowed ground.

The wife ignored the advice.

As the infant grew, the mark of the defiled appeared on the child's skin. To save the child, that certain Ohta family member performed a ceremony using the holy tree to exorcise the child. Shortly thereafter, the mark of the defiled faded from view, cast to the winds.